theraineysisters knitting and so much more

For those of you who thought the stories from DC were over — think again!  Yes, there’s more!  Two posts for the price of one. 

One of the things I did when I visited Sally was work on my Maia Shoulderette designed by Romi Hill.  The reason I could not finish it here was because I was out of yarn.  I was using yarn from my stash: Colinette Jitterbug in a light green with rust highlights (Moss)…but I made two fatal mistakes:  1- I added a repeat even though I didn’t mean to (don’t ask!) and b- chose a yarn without much yardage. 

When Sally and I bought the yarn, we got three skeins of ~330 yards each in anticipation of each making socks.  So I am the yarn hog.  I brought my almost finished Maia to DC and worked on it non-stop until that bad boy was done.  By the end, the rows were ENDLESS!!!   I think I probably used two full skeins to finish it.

The fun thing about this pattern is the start: Romi uses a play on the garter tab cast on, incorporating a large leaf motif:

The bottom edge:

Here you can see the unusual shape — a “stay on your shoulders” kind of shape:

Sally and I both worked on this shawlette.  She wrote some notes on her Ravelry project page that describe both of our thoughts about this pattern.

I’m not sure exactly when I’ll wear this, but it is kind of cute.

The countdown has begun!  I will launch at 1010 tomorrow and meet up with Surly around 2pm.  Then watch out, DC, The Rainey Sisters will be on the loose!! 

Houston, we have a problem: a serious yarn shortage in the DC area….

It certainly feels that way.  When I am between large projects I usually take a breather with a few quick knits.  I can’t get through a day without knitting, but I am not yet prepared to embark on the next big thing.  Plus, my knitting group is donating hats to charity this fall.

So, I knit hats — three this week!   The Quincy I already shared, a very basic hat too basic to share and this one: The Tuscan Leaves Hat by Nina Machlin.   This is a very nice hat pattern!  I love the way the leaves meander slowly next to each other.  It is NOT charted, but I had no trouble reading it row by row.

Here are the pictures of Nina’s Hats, which show the hat in its entirety:

I did not have a model, nor do I own a “head” so my pictures are flat and not that good:

I used Ella Rae Worsted Weight Wool.  When finished, the hat looked so tiny that it seemed like it would not fit a soul, but it did block nicely.  I would make this again.  It is so pretty and unique.

There may be a gap in our blogging:  I will be heading east to visit Surly on Thursday!  Yay!

Hello, fellow knitting peeps.  Today was the first day of school for DD the Younger.   She has three years left of high school.  She just got her learner’s permit.  Pray for us.  Pray for us all.

I have a small FO to share — another Quincy Hat by Jared Flood.   I made several of these last year and enjoyed making them enough to do another — it’s a great take-along project.  Our knitting group is knitting hats for charity this year, so I am knitting hats. 

Quincy Hat by Jared Flood in Katia Azteca (128 yds of a 197 yd skein), US Size 10 Needles

The hat is started as a long, garter stitch strip with built-in i-cord along each edge.  Last year, I ran into several people who had difficulty trying to set up the grafting for the center back (I told them to go ask Jared…well, I told them and then I showed them 🙂 ).

You need to graft the first and last three sts as stockinette and the middle sts in garter stitch.  In order to do this correctly, you need to reposition all the built-in i-cord sts to look like the right side of stockinette on each side.  One side will look like reverse stockinette.  These sts must be turned — not individually, but all three at once.   

The sts appear on the needle like this:

Place all three purl side sts on a dpn and then turn the dpn counterclockwise until the RS of the stockinette sts are facing forward.  Now place them back 0n the needle in this new order:

I won’t even try to show how to do garter grafting (yes, I’m a chicken  &^%$)!  Just make sure the center sts are set up properly (there are many tutorials out there). 

The results:

There will always be a jog where the change from st st to garter takes place because you are grafting two different directions of knitting together (heads of sts being grafted to heads of sts — if that does not make sense, you are normal!).

I’m still deciding on my next bigger project…a couple of ideas are floating around so we’ll see which one lands!

PS: Rox’s comment made me re-think the above and she is correct that you are grafting in the same direction as the knitting, so there shouldn’t be a jog.  The fact that there is is probably due to the built in i-cord (?), not the transition from stockinette to garter and back again.  That shouldn’t cause a jog in and of itself.  Maybe I’ll try it and experiment.  Or maybe not. 😉